Wascher Claudia A F, Scheiber Isabella B R, Kotrschal Kurt
Konrad-Lorenz-Forschungsstelle and Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Vienna, 4645 Grünau, Austria.
Proc Biol Sci. 2008 Jul 22;275(1643):1653-9. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0146.
Simply observing other individuals interacting has been shown to affect subsequent behaviour and also hormones in 'bystander' individuals. However, immediate physiological responses of an observer have been hardly investigated. Here we present results on individuals' heart rate (HR) responses during various situations, which occur regularly in a flock of greylag geese (Anser anser, e.g. agonistic encounters, vehicles passing by). We recorded simultaneously HR and behaviour of 21 semi-tame free-roaming geese, equipped with fully implanted transmitters. We considered 304 social and 81 non-social events during which the focal individuals did not respond behaviourally. Independent of the spatial distance to the event, these HR responses were significantly greater in social contexts (e.g. departing or landing geese, agonistic interactions) than in non-social situations (e.g. vehicles passing by, thunder). Focal individuals showed a significantly higher maximum HR as well as a greater HR increase in response to agonistic interactions, in which the pair partner or a family member was involved, as compared with a non-affiliated goose. Also, HR was significantly higher when the bystander watched non-affiliated geese interacting, which were higher ranking than the focal. We conclude that these differences are due to different relevance of the recorded events for the focal individual, depending on the individuals involved in the observed interaction.
仅仅观察其他个体的互动已被证明会影响“旁观者”个体随后的行为以及激素水平。然而,观察者的即时生理反应却鲜有研究。在此,我们展示了在灰雁群中经常出现的各种情况下个体心率(HR)反应的结果,例如争斗遭遇、车辆驶过。我们同时记录了21只半驯化自由放养且配备了完全植入式发射器的灰雁的心率和行为。我们考虑了304个社交事件和81个非社交事件,在此期间焦点个体没有行为反应。与事件的空间距离无关,这些心率反应在社交情境(例如大雁起飞或降落、争斗互动)中显著大于非社交情境(例如车辆驶过、打雷)。与无关联的大雁相比,焦点个体在涉及配偶或家庭成员的争斗互动中表现出显著更高的最高心率以及更大的心率增幅。此外,当旁观者观看比焦点大雁等级更高的无关联大雁互动时,心率也显著更高。我们得出结论,这些差异是由于所记录事件对焦点个体的不同相关性所致,这取决于观察到的互动中涉及的个体。